Random observations from a Long Island "Revert" to the
Catholic faith.

Saturday, January 18, 2003

From the horrible anti-Catholic newspaper here on long island: an article that features an effort of Dennis Dillon, the Nassau County District Attorney, to help young men stay out of trouble. Mr. Dillon is a Catholic hero who switched parties rather than renounce his pro-life beliefs. Once, at a weeknight mass at my parish I turned around at the kiss of peace and was shocked to find myself shaking his hand. I wanted to tell him after the mass how much I respected his very public Catholicism but he was reading his prayer book and I didn't want to bother him. Mr. Dillon's devout Catholicism has earned him the hatred of Jimmy Breslin and just today I learned something about Breslin I did not know. According to the Catholic League's Catalyst newsletter, in 1990 Mr. Breslin was suspended from his newspaper for 2 weeks for calling a 25 year old Korean reporter a "yellowcur", "slant-eyed", "c---". Those of us who see his hate-filled column know this is par for the course.

In 9th grade and 10th grade we studied "Salvation History", with 9th grade covering mostly the Old Testament, and 10th grade the New Testament and the 7 sacraments. What I loved about this 2 year course was that it was mostly history which I loved and which I did not get from my grammar school religion classes. Junior year was "Christian Humanism" which was the best course I have taken in any school. We covered a variety of topics using film, books (Man's Search for Meaning, A Man for All Seasons, 3 By Flannery O'Connor), philosophy, a little psychology, history, and a lot of Flannery O'Connor. Senior year was "Christian Existence" which covers philosophy, morality, vocations, marriage, etc.. The school now has "Church History" as the second year course so the religion classes are a little different today. Overall a very positive and intelligent religious education with none of the false teachings described by others, and as such the school has been a source of many vocations for the Church, priestly and otherwise.

We have been described as a lost generation, and this is certainly true. I learned most of what I know of my culture, faith, heritage, and traditions from Ignatius Press, various websites, magazines, etc.. It is amazing seeing comments from many people online that show the 1970's and 1980's to be a time of watered down, superficial, or even false teaching. I had 16 years of Catholic school, I don't remember much from grammar school, high school was excellent, university was useless. (Guess which of those I had to pay for??) High school was excellent, we had 4 years of religion class that was intelligent, mostly interesting, and substantive. I would love to hear from people describing their experiences in Catholic school or CCD, particularly 9th -12th grade. I will post my curriculum and experience later.

Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a 32 year old cradle Catholic who "reverted" about 3 years ago. I have enjoyed reading the many Catholic blogs and figured I would try it out. Let me start by thanking those bloggers who have educated me, enlightened me, infuriated me, made me laugh and reminded me how awesome it is to be Catholic ( even now). Thanks:

About Me

A Catholic school lifer, who reverted to the faith some years ago. Member of Generation X, I have various interests but blog here only about Catholic stuff. I grew up on Long Island (Diocese of Rockville Centre) and still live here with my wife and son. I welcome information on good local Catholic / Christian events.